Description and Prediction
Our study began in language arts class, with lessons modified from some online lessons based on Two Bad Ants (see
Internet Resources). The writing teacher reviewed a few
Chris Van Allsburg books that students were familiar with
(Polar Express, Jumanji) and shared that Chris Van Allsburg had grown up in our hometown of Grand Rapids,
Michigan. She told the students that they were going to
begin studying ants in science and learning about “point
of view” writing in language arts. As she read Two Bad
Ants aloud, she asked students to listen to the description
on each page and to predict what the ants were seeing or
experiencing (e.g., sugar crystals, cup of coffee, the view
of a teaspoon coming down into their “hot brown lake” of
coffee, being spun around in a garbage disposal, the inside
of an electric socket, etc.). Students enjoyed discovering
these places from the ants’ perspective. Afterward, students made charts comparing human and ant points of
view from various situations not described in the book.
Later that day, in science class, students began
researching ants in preparation for a guided hands-on
investigation planned for the next day. Students worked
in small groups using nonfiction texts about ants from our
Summer 2009 41

Fir0002/Flagstaffotos

few years ago, a fellow teacher and I began working together to develop connections between
our third-grade English language arts program
and science curricula. My colleague, a writing
teacher, was researching how to include local authors into
our reading and writing curriculum. I, a science teacher,
wanted to help students develop their science investigation skills while making connections to the writing process.
When my colleague discovered Chris Van Allsburg’s work,
things started to gel. Chris Van Allsburg’s books are entertaining to students because of their adventures and fantasies, but they also have real-world connections. He includes
just enough scientific information in his fiction to make it
easy to springboard into researching the scientific facts.
The following lessons were inspired by the book, Two
Bad Ants (Van Allsburg 1988), a fictional story detailing the
journey of “two bad ants” that stray from their colony and
choose to stay in a container full of large, white, sweet-tasting
crystals (sugar). Through artwork and text, students observe
human life from the perspective of two small insects.
The book was the catalyst for an engaging five-day
study with third-grade students—in science, the story
was a springboard for a hands-on investigation with
live ants that introduced students to the processes of
investigation; in language arts, the story ushered in
lessons about point of view, using sensory details, and

school and local library. I also presented an ant farm that
we would be keeping in the classroom so that students
could make observations of live ants. (Ant farms can be
purchased from science suppliers.)
Students observed the ants and recorded their observations
in their science journals. Before beginning
observations, I prompted them with
questions, “What are the ants doing?”
“Does it seem like they are communicating?
If so, how?” “Do they appear to be working
or resting?” The students were amazed
at how the ants were digging tunnels.
They observed that some of the ants were
physically moving the sand, while others
were carrying it away. They were definitely
working as a team! The students also
noted that when we turned on the light
over the ant colony, the ants seemed to
slow down in their work. This prompted
some students to wonder whether ants
work better in daylight or at night.

10 Hungry Ants
The next day, we built upon the previous day’s experiences. In language
arts class, students chose one of the numerous situations from the prior day and wrote a more extensive description of the two points of view (human and ant).
This took the students’ writing from one-line observations,
such as a person viewing a swimming pool from a high diving board as a “cool blue pool” and the ant viewing it as a
“large ocean,” to multiline descriptions such as, “My legs
begin to quiver. I am scared. I do not want to dive. The blue
water below looks so far away. Can I jump?” (the person’s
perspective) and “Where am I? I’m really tired. That was
a long hike straight up. What’s that blue rug down there?
Why is it so shiny? Is that water? Yikes! How do I get down
from here?” (the ant’s perspective).
Later that day, in science class, students observed the
ants in the ant farm again, recording their observations
in their science journals, and we started talking about the
kinds of food ants might prefer. The students mentioned
that the ants in Two Bad Ants really seemed to like the sugar
crystals. They also made connections to seeing ants swarm
around watermelon and spilled soda on their porches during the summer. We discussed what was in these foods
that may have attracted the ants. Sugar, salt? Then, I
introduced our class investigation. Since my students
hadn’t yet had a lot of experience with inquiry-oriented
science investigations, I planned this guided investigation so that students could gain practice in investigation
skills (e.g., making predictions, following procedures,
recording data, graphing results, and writing conclusions). To simplify matters, I created a worksheet listing
four possible food preferences and a procedure for testing
42 Science and Children

the ants’ preferences (see NSTA Connection). We’re a
Spanish immersion school, so the worksheet is available in
Spanish, too.
After reviewing the worksheet together, students
recorded their predictions based on their own personal
experiences with ants. Since students had seen ants outside
in their yards around their own foods, their
predictions included such ideas as, “I
think that the ants will eat the potato
chips because the chips have a lot of
grease” and “I think that the ants will
eat the strawberry jelly because it has
a lot of sugar.”
Next, we placed one teaspoon of each
type of food (chips, bread, an orange,
and strawberry jam) into the corners of a
large shoebox and placed the shoebox in
the center of the room. Students formed
a circle around the shoebox, holding their
investigation sheets in hand to make tally
marks in the results section. One student
was designated the official timer, timing the
experiment for five minutes. I then placed
the 10 ants in the center of the box, and we
observed what happened.
We quickly realized that we needed to
determine what constituted “ants preferring
a food.” Did they prefer it if they wandered into the square?
Or did the ants have to be touching the food directly?
Together we concluded that the ants had to be touching the
food directly in order to mark it on our data table.
After five minutes, students returned to their seats to
graph the results. I gave each student a section of graph paper
titled, “What Food Do Ants Prefer?” and together we created
a graph. I drew a sample graph on an overhead projector and
students added the appropriate information to their graphs
on paper. I asked the students how to determine what goes
on the “x axis” (the horizontal line) and what should go on
the “y axis” (the vertical line). Students decided that the
types of food should go along the bottom based on their
past experiences of working with bar graphs in math and
science; they felt it was important to have the numbers on the
y axis show the patterns of numbers. We titled the
x axis, “Foods,” and wrote the four types of food on that line.
Next, we looked at the data table to the highest number of ants
that preferred a food—it was seven. I asked the students what
could be done with that information. Students commented
that we needed to determine what numbers would go on the y
axis. Some students suggested writing the scale in increments
of 5, others suggested 10. A few students argued the case to
write the scale as numbers 1 through 10. When I asked why,
one student explained that it would be easier to see the results,
and the graph had more than 10 blocks so we could do it by
ones. The class agreed that this would be best.
Then, I asked students what the title of the y axis should
be, and students said, “Number of Ants.” Next, I asked

Linking Science and Writing With Two Bad Ants
two student volunteers to come to the overhead to complete the bar graph, with students following along on the
graphs at their desks. When all the graphs were complete,
I asked the students to determine which food the ants
most preferred. Students noted that the ants preferred
the strawberry jam. Students commented that the graph
helped them see the main idea better, which I pointed out
was one of the reasons that graphs are helpful.

Mystery Places and Results
On the third day in language arts, students were asked to
describe a mystery place using the five senses, from both
the point of view of a person and an ant. This helped the
students further develop their ideas as well as to include
sensory details (we had previously studied the senses
earlier in the year in science class).
Meanwhile, that day in science class, we discussed
our “Error Analysis,” or how we could have made the
project better. Most students commented that they would
have changed the container in which we conducted the
experiment because some of the ants escaped by climbing
over the wall of the shoebox and abandoning the project!
Students then created science boards using the data
from their worksheets. I gave each student a large piece of
construction paper, which they folded into three sections, two
equal-size pieces on the sides with a larger area in the middle
to display the title of our project, a drawing of an ant, and the
graphs. Students pasted their predictions and procedures on
the left side of the board, the title and graphs in the center, and
results (data tables) and conclusions on the right side.
For their conclusions, students restated whether their
prediction was supported and what they learned from the
project. For example, one student wrote, “I predicted that
the ants would prefer the chips, but I learned that the ants
preferred the strawberry jelly.”

Writings and Assessments
In writing class, for the final two days, the students finished their points-of-view writings from a mystery location by revising and peer editing their papers. Students
worked in pairs to determine whether or not the writing presented an original point of view (not one used by
Chris Van Allsburg or the teacher). Students also helped
one another to make sure at least four of the senses were
represented in the writings. At the end of class, students
shared their final draft pieces with the class.
In science class, students spent the final days making
additional observations of the ant farm and writing a
summary paragraph of the experience. Some comments
included “This experiment was cool because we got to see
what some ants’ favorite foods are. This was probably my
favorite project in third grade so far. If you ever do this
project, beware the ant will climb out.”
In addition to the ongoing teacher observation
assessment that occurred during class, we evaluated
students’ work samples. In science, the summary

Connecting to the Standards
This article relates to the following National Science
Education Standards (NRC 1996):

Standard C: Life Science
• The characteristics of organisms
• Organisms and environments
National Research Council (NRC). 1996. National
science education standards. Washington, DC:
National Academy Press.

NSTA Connection

Download the investigation worksheet in English
and Spanish at www.nsta.org/sc0907.

paragraphs were to cover the main points of the experience,
and the science boards needed to be complete with a clear
written prediction, collected data from the experiment, a
clearly labeled graph, and a written conclusion.

Success!
All of us—students and their two teachers—had a great
time with these lessons. Upon reflection, the next time
we conduct these lessons, we plan to let students drive
the content more. What do students want to discover
about ants? What is a driving question we could work
together to answer? How can students design their own
experiments to study ant behavior? With this successful
experience under our belts, we are ready to take on bigger challenges and continue to get students excited while
participating in our science and writing classes! n
Ingrid Hekman Fournier (ifournie@fhps.us) is a fifthgrade Spanish Immersion teacher at Northern Trails Fifthand Sixth-Grade School in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Leslie
Dryer Edison is a third-grade Spanish Immersion teacher
at Ada Vista Elementary School in Ada, Michigan.